What Are These ATG Fighters Main Weakness?

Marciano - Footwork & Balance. Sometimes would throw wild punches that would leave him off balance.

Lennox Lewis - Lackadaisical attitude & complacency at times which also led to leaky defense. He could also be too upright in his stance (which led to him getting KO'ed 2x).

Joe Louis - Could be very flat-footed at times leading him to struggle with boxers/movers. Also, not much head movement.

Joe Frazier - Had no jab. Couldn't fight effectively going backwards (aside from the Chuvalo fight). Mainly a one-armed fighter.

George Foreman - Could be clumsy at times when punching. Had a lot of problems with boxers/movers. Limited gas tank. Leaky defense.

 

Well I’m assuming this is meant as a whole H2H right? I’ll try…

RM - His size, a guy like Lennox could just lean in on him up close or Wlad… lots of BIG guys could neutralise his inside fighting like that - around his weight though he was a fantastic well oiled machine.

LL - Overall just a straight up and down fighter, good at everything but not overly impressive in one category I think his chin was fine, I think a good jab, movement and a bit of speed would bother Lennox a lot, guys like Holmes would drive him nuts.

JL - He didn’t have one, I’m serious, nothing stands out to me… he did everything right and sometimes you just lose because it wasn’t meant to be that night. Joe Louis was the greatest H2H fighter of all time.

JF - His size… he was very flawed Mr Frazier he kept all his weight on the front foot… his jab was not much and a short fighter needs good legs and a jab. JF’s head movement was all waist and he didn’t shift his weight properly, he didn’t really have a much of a right hand, overall he got by by doing the very best with what he had and being a tough, tough man. His defence, punch mechanics and size leave a lot to be desired.

70s? GF - Square hips, no inside fighting, too tense an arm puncher too and not a professional the way guys like Ali, Louis, Frazier and Holmes were… George was in too much of a rush he’d always lose to people who knew how to fight properly.
Overall H2H he is on the smaller side despite the nickname, not much of a jab, not adaptable, too aggressive for a smaller guy today and with no gas tank, clumsy technique and a very so-so defence… let’s just say he wouldn’t be the “monster” he was in the 70s fighting Frazier, more vulnerable looking like the one against Lyle.

 

Marciano - short reach and not great speed. Would struggle be taller rangy fighters but his stamina and power would give him a fair chance.

Lewis - struggled somewhat vs faster smaller durable guys like Holyfield and Mercer and even Marovic to some extent. I think guys that could avoid his power and maintain a high work rate like Holmes and Usyk would give him a hard time.

Louis - often flat footed to conserve energy which means that slippery moving fighters could give him a hard time especially over 12 rounds. In 15 rounders, he would likely to able to stop them late.

Frazier - lack of big right hand to the head, rarely threw a powerful right or left uppercut, overly reliant on left hook. If someone can neutralize the left hook, it’s game over.

Foreman - could burn out after 7 rounds. Fortunately for him, most heavies in the history of the game wouldn’t last more than 4 rounds vs him.

 

Marciano = Balance especially when he threw too many wild punches and his small size especially his reach would be his downfall against bigger Heavyweights.

Lewis = Complacent could take fights too lightly and can be vulnerable to right hands his chin can also be cracked with single punches.

Louis = I think he's a bit static at times which means he can outmaneuvered and outboxed, his chin or defence may not be the best either he was floored about 10 times in his career i believe.

Frazier = A bit one dimensional with his offence his primary offense was the left hook again his size might be found wanting against bigger powerful Heavyweights.

Foreman = Slow can be sloppy at times if you're talking about young Foreman aswell he didn't know how to pace himself.

 

I think Frazier's punch variety is quite underrated - he used his right hand & occasionally even jab to good effect in both Quarry fights:

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Frazier did not implement the jab and right enough

Louis was getting hit with left hooks from Galento

Marciano cut easily and his forte was basically timing coming in and dominating the inside, so someone like Charles could catch him and make him pay

Lewis didn't seem motivated at times and could blow an opportunity to finish an opponent

Foreman had technical tools he abandoned in favor of shoving the opponent back and dropping bombs

 

Marciano, speed.

Lewis, chin.

Louis, I don’t know he has one. A couple of small chinks yes, but one outright, primary weakness? No.

Frazier, adaptability.

Foreman, adaptability.

It was hard to pick just one in the case of Marciano & Lewis, but I wanted to keep it tight, as per the thread request.

 

Marciano was small and his opponents were small. Do not think he gets nearly as far with what he had in other eras.

Lennoxs chin wasn't weak but he could be taken out by one shot and of all the great "superheavyweights" hes probably the softest target. Briggs, Tyson, Vitali, Bruno, Tucker, Mercer all had their moments. Lewis was better than all these guys just like Rahman and McCall and getting knocked out by any of them would have been a fluke but getting knocked out wasn't. This era didn't have many "superheavyweights" with power.

Louis he didn't really have weaknesses for his era just things that could have hypothetically been a problem in others. In his era he was vulnerable to getting knocked down but bounced back better than almost anyone. I'm not sure this would hold up against some of the more heavy hitters in later eras. And if it did getting knocked down matters more judging wise especially if fights go only 12 rounds. In Louis's prime this wouldn't have mattered anyway as he rarely let his opponents see the distance but in the latter 20th century against bigger and better average opponents he might have had more full fights.

Frazier was small. Think his power would translate a lot better than Marciano or Tyson but I'm more concerned about his durability and him being noticeably less effective against bigger opponents like Mathis and Bugner. While Frazier fought in the toughest era and fought the top two HWs in said era he went 1-4 against them and didn't fight Norton, Jimmy Young, Lyle or Shavers. Except Norton v Lyle and Foreman v Shavers everyone in this group of 6 fought each other. And despite facing the fewest elite fighters of the group he was the first one gone. Some of that was no doubt the Ali and Foreman losses pushing him out of contention earlier.

 

This is a misconception. Louis incorporated head movement constantly. He would dip his head as he jabbed (ex: M. baer fight)
Timestamp: 7:09 play at 0:25 speed (whole fight is a good example here anyway)

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he would bob and weave at close ranger to get openings (M. Baer fight)
Check link above at 8:17, 21:06, 23:00

He would follow through with his cross, moving his head off the center line (easy example is the first Maurielo kd, Louis follows his right hand into a crouch that prepares his disguised left hook that scores a kd)
5:33

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This technique of changing head slots is also explained here in the beginning of the video

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He had the best defence against straight left hands, which was facilitated by his excellent slipping ability, something that would be impossible with anything less than stellar head movement. Funny enough, the easiest example is the Agramonte rematch, where Louis is 37 years old and much slower than before. But his reduced ability to counter here shows how he would default to more slipping and bobbing until he could get an opening to capitalize on.

The kd sequence at 5:50 or 7:20 are examples, but the fight is littered with them as Agramonte keeps using his left jab to hit Louis as he's coming in. (This video is unlisted so you'll have to follow the link to YouTube to access it)

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You could find examples of Louis' head movement in every single one of his fights. He fought out of a half crouch which made it very easy for him to duck, dip and sway.

A real weakness he had though was a propensity for being knockdown early in the fight. This didn't have any bearing on his overall durability, seeing as Schmeling floored him in the fourth round after landing 20 or so hard punches, a mere fraction of the total 80 power shots he would need to hit Louis with to eventually keep him down.

Edit: Forgot to mention, Louis gets singled out for having a weakness to movers, he was better than every fighter mentioned in title post at taking out mobile fighters, aside from Frazier who was his equal (and also had his own problems going 10 with a past prime Machen and nearly getting knocked down). The truth is nobody aside from Frazier fought as many movers as Louis and managed to knock out as many of them.
For as much as Louis struggled to knockout Pastor, Conn, Ramage (super green Louis) or Walcott, he did manage to knock them out, unlike Foreman against Young, Liston against unranked Whitehurst (two tries) and Machen and Tyson against Tillis.

 

Marciano: defence, he wasn’t vulnerable to knockout punches, but he was vulnerable to getting tagged throughout the fight.
Lewis: I’m struggling here, but overall maybe staying switched on in a fight, he could be tagged with that right hand by forgetting his range and getting lazy as Holmes did against Snipes.
Louis: Sometimes he could get predictable mainly when coming forward, lack of feints, hand movement and the pressure with the feet coming forward in straight line, sometimes his rhythm was too predictable and opponents were able to time it, as did Walcott and Conn, even Schmeling if we're looking at the right hands he was landing.
Frazier: Defence, he’d take 1 to give one and against punchers it can spell disaster.
Foreman: Pressuring in predictable rhythms, which can allow boxers to time his rhythm, especially with straight punches since he walks forward in the same patterns.